Free CMMS for breweries and beverage plants
Track OEE, log downtime and run a work order board for your brewhouse, cellar and packaging line in the browser. No account, no install, and your data stays on your device.
The short answer
- The OEE Lab free tracker is a browser-based CMMS and OEE tool for breweries: log a shift in about two minutes, capture CIP and filler downtime, and build a work order board for tanks, pumps and packaging.
- It runs on one device with no account, keeps data in your browser, and gives you Availability, Performance and Quality, a downtime Pareto, PM schedules and CSV or JSON export, free forever.
- It is honestly light: you log shifts by hand and you investigate the true cause of micro-stops yourself, so it fits a single plant that is moving off spreadsheets and clipboards.
- When manual logging can no longer keep up with filler and bottling-line micro-stops, Fabrico is the paid upgrade that reads OEE straight from the PLC and auto-routes work orders.
Breweries lose most of their real capacity in small, repeated interruptions: a filler that indexes a few seconds late, a labeler that jams on wet bottles, a CIP cycle that overruns, or a changeover between SKUs that eats a shift. Individually they look trivial, but stacked across a packaging run they quietly cap your throughput. The OEE Lab free tracker gives you a structured place to log those events by shift, so the pattern becomes visible instead of living in someone's head. Start with the OEE tracker and add downtime reasons that match your line.
Under the hood it is a genuinely useful light CMMS: an asset register for your brewhouse vessels, fermenters, pumps, filler, labeler and utilities, a work order board for breakdowns and follow-ups, and a preventive maintenance schedule so seals, gaskets and CIP checks do not slip. Everything runs in a single browser file with no account and no cloud, and you can export to CSV or JSON any time. If you are weighing this against clipboards and shared sheets, the free CMMS vs spreadsheets breakdown is a fair place to look.
This page is for breweries and beverage plants that want to see OEE and downtime clearly without signing up for anything. We are honest about the limits: it is one plant on one device, you log shifts manually, and you do the root-cause detective work yourself. When you outgrow that, the upgrade path is real and we cover it below. For the bigger picture on the metric itself, see what OEE is and how the losses add up.
What you get, free
Shift logging built for packaging runs
Record a shift in about two minutes: good units, total units, planned runtime and the downtime events that hit your filler, labeler or bottling line. It is manual by design, which keeps it fast and honest for a single plant.
OEE with A, P and Q split out
See Availability, Performance and Quality separately so you can tell a CIP overrun from a slow-running filler from bottles rejected at inspection. Per-machine breakdown lets you compare the brewhouse against packaging.
Downtime Pareto for micro-stops
Every downtime reason you log rolls up into a Pareto chart, so the handful of causes behind most lost minutes (label jams, capper faults, CIP waits) rise to the top instead of hiding in a notebook.
Work order board for the cellar and line
Turn a breakdown or a follow-up into a work order, assign it to a person and track it to done. Covers tanks, pumps, valves, the filler and utilities on one simple board you can print or export.
Preventive maintenance schedule
Set recurring PM tasks for seal and gasket changes, filler maintenance, CIP verification and utility checks so routine work is planned rather than reactive. An asset register and people or roles list keep it organized on one device.
Export, backup and shareable reports
Export everything to CSV or JSON, run a full backup and restore, print a PDF report and generate a shareable scorecard. A benchmark shows how your OEE compares to typical ranges so a shift review has real numbers behind it.
Log one shift and the free tracker shows your OEE, your loss Pareto and how you compare to world-class. Add work orders and preventive-maintenance reminders in the same place.
Where free stops, and Fabrico begins
The free tracker is built for getting started fast and for one plant on one device. When a site gets serious about its losses, the manual steps start to cost more than they save. This is exactly where Fabrico takes over.
| Capability | Free OEE Lab tracker | Fabrico |
|---|---|---|
| Data capture | You log shifts and downtime events by hand, roughly two minutes per shift, on one browser on one device. | Fabrico reads OEE directly from the PLC, so filler and line data is captured automatically instead of typed in. |
| Loss-to-fix loop | You spot a recurring loss in the Pareto, then open a work order yourself and follow up manually. | Fabrico closes the loop from PLC-read OEE to an auto-routed work order, so a detected loss becomes an assigned job without a handoff. |
| Micro-stop cause | You investigate why the filler or labeler keeps micro-stopping using your own observation and the logged reasons. | Fabrico uses computer vision to pin the true cause of each micro-stop and backs it with video evidence you can review. |
| Scope and scaling | One plant on one device or browser, which suits a single brewery moving off spreadsheets. | Fabrico runs the same closed PLC-to-work-order loop across every line, so standards stay consistent as a brewery grows. |
| Integrations | No live integrations; you move data in and out through CSV and JSON export. | Fabrico connects to PLCs and plant systems so OEE, downtime and work orders stay in sync in real time. |
| Access and roles | A simple people and roles list on the same single device, with no separate logins. | Fabrico is EU-built and ISO 27001 certified, so shared team access to OEE and work-order data runs under audited security controls. |
| Data residency | Data lives only in your browser on your device; nothing is uploaded anywhere. | Fabrico is EU-built with EU data residency, which matters for beverage groups with strict data rules. |
| Reporting | Printable PDF report, a shareable scorecard and a benchmark, generated on demand from your logs. | Fabrico produces continuous, audit-ready reporting from automatically captured data across shifts. |
| Audit-readiness and certification | Export and backup give you a clean record you keep yourself; it supports audit-readiness for a single plant. | Fabrico is ISO 27001, 20000-1 and 9001 certified, which supports audit-readiness for regulated beverage operations. |
Frequently asked questions
Is the OEE Lab tracker really free for a brewery?
Yes. The tracker is free forever, needs no account and installs nothing. You open it in a browser and start logging shifts, downtime and work orders for your brewhouse, cellar and packaging line. Your data stays on your device and you can export or back it up whenever you want.
Can it handle CIP, filler and bottling-line downtime?
Yes. You add downtime reasons that match your plant, such as CIP overrun, filler index fault, capper jam or label misfeed, and log them per shift. Those reasons roll up into a downtime Pareto and feed your Availability figure, so the micro-stops that cap your run become visible.
How does it deal with changeovers between SKUs?
Log a changeover as planned or unplanned downtime with its own reason, so switching between brands, pack sizes or bottle and can formats shows up as a distinct loss. Over a few weeks you can see how much time changeovers really take and target the slowest ones.
Does it track tank and utility reliability, not just the packaging line?
Yes. The asset register covers fermenters, bright tanks, pumps, valves and utilities like glycol, air and steam, and you can schedule preventive maintenance and raise work orders against any of them. It is a light CMMS, so it organizes the work; you still do the hands-on diagnosis.
When do I need more than the free tool?
When manual shift logging can no longer keep pace with filler and line micro-stops, it is time to upgrade. Fabrico reads OEE straight from the PLC, uses computer vision to find the true cause of micro-stops with video evidence, and auto-routes the resulting work orders. You can book a Fabrico demo to see that closed loop on your own line.
Is my data safe if it only lives in the browser?
Your logs stay in local browser storage on that one device, so nothing leaves your plant. The trade-off is that clearing the browser or switching devices means you lose access unless you have exported or backed up, so run a JSON backup regularly. For a secured setup with EU data residency, Fabrico is the paid step up.
When free is not enough, Fabrico is the upgrade
The free tracker is genuinely useful for a single brewery getting off spreadsheets, but manual shift logging can only take you so far when filler and bottling-line micro-stops pile up faster than anyone can write them down. Fabrico is the honest next step: it reads OEE straight from the PLC so capture is automatic, uses computer vision to pin the true cause of each micro-stop with video evidence, and closes the loop by auto-routing a work order the moment a loss is detected. It is EU-built with EU data residency and certified to ISO 27001, 20000-1 and 9001, which matters for beverage groups with strict data and audit needs. If your lines have outgrown clipboards and browser tabs, book a Fabrico demo to see that closed loop running on your own packaging line.
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